Series / Vincenzo

Vincenzo is a Korean Series that aired on Korea's tvN network and Netflix in 2021.

Vincenzo Cassano (Song Joong-ki) is a Korean-Italian lawyer and consigliere for the Cassano mafia family, having been adopted by its head, Don Fabio. After Fabio's death, Pablo (Fabio's biological son and the new leader) tries to have Vincenzo killed, so Vincenzo escapes to Korea hoping to retrieve a massive stash of hidden gold stored in a vault buried under an apartment complex as his retirement fund.

However during his absence, the building has since been taken over by the Babel Group conglomerate, which plans to demolish the apartment complex. It's up to Vincenzo to retrieve the building (and the fortune) all the while dealing with Amoral Attorney Hong Cha-young, the apartment's wacky residents who refuse to be evicted and of course Babel Group. Eventually, he forms an alliance with Cha-young and the residents, and in his fight with Babel Group, he delivers justice in his own way to those who have been wronged by Babel Group.

A stage musical adaptation was produced in Japan in 2023.

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Vincenzo provides examples of:

A-L

• Actor Allusion: In episode 11, while the Geumga residents are playing Mafia, one of them says Chul-wook looks like a North Korean soldier. Actor Yang Kyung-won played a North Korean soldier in a very popular Korean Drama, Crash Landing on You.
• Amoral Attorney: The series contains many examples!
  • The female lead Hong Cha-young starts out as a full-blown one at the beginning of the series, suborning perjury to allow Babel Group to escape a lawsuit for fatally poisoning test subjects. That lasts until her father dies and she quits Wusang to take over his law firm. She might still not be above using dirty tricks, but she is now genuinely dedicated to helping those trampled over by Babel Group.
  • Possibly any lawyer that works for Wusang, notably Choi Myung-hee and Han Seung-hyeok. Especially Myung-hee, who has no problem ordering multiple murders to make things easier for her bosses at Babel Group.
  • The attorney in episode 7 representing the families of the victims of Babel Chemicals is one, as he is under Wusang's payroll.
• Animated Credits Opening: The opening credits are a cartoon, done silhouette-style, depicting various criminal-type activities—guns and gunfire, playing cards, wine poured in glasses which also suggests blood.
• Anti-Hero: Vincenzo. He's a murderer with a high body count. In one episode he tortures a mook for information by breaking his fingernails. He specifically designs Cruel and Unusual Deaths for Joon-woo and Myung-hee. Yet, in contrast to an Ax-Crazy sociopath like Joon-woo, he's capable of love and has a moral code, and the people he kills are themselves murderers.
• Art Imitates Art: In episode 7, the residents of Geumga Plaza attack the Babel Group goon squad, in a scene framed to copy the famous French painting "Liberty Leading the People", which was seen in a museum earlier that same episode. (Of course since this is a Korean TV show the actress doesn't expose her breasts like in the painting.)
• Audible Sharpness: A rare example of something that isn't a blade. Instead, it's Vincenzo's fancy golden ciagrette lighter that gives a loud zing every time he opens or closes it.
• Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: The end of episode 11 has Vincenzo confronting Joon-woo at gunpoint, having figured out Joon-woo's identity as the real Chairman of Babel Group. Joon-woo dares Vincenzo to shoot him in the forehead while Vincenzo stalls, followed by a Smash to Black and the sound of a gunshot. Episode 12 reveals that Vincenzo wasn't the one who fired the shot; it was actually Prosecutor Jung who had reached the apartment with his men and was firing a warning shot. Of course, this is All According to Plan for Vincenzo.
• Battle in the Rain: The scenes of violence at the end of episode 3, where goons sent by Babel Group hunt down the researcher and kill him, while another goon crashes a truck into a restaurant to kill Yoo-chan, are both shown taking place in a driving rain.
• Beware the Silly Ones:
  • The building's residents are all well-meaning people who are kooky in a harmless manner. However, when the bad guys start killing people, they are willing to help Vincenzo even if it involves theft, kidnapping and arson.
  • Jang Joon-woo is first introduced as a silly, happy-go-lucky Keet interning at Wusang. However, episode 4 reveals him to be the real chairman of Babel Group, and his silliness is really a part of his Psychopathic Manchild nature.
  • Director An is introduced as a Cloud Cuckoolander Overt Operative, but he has shown himself to be more of a Bunny-Ears Lawyer, always successful in whatever task he does in helping out Vincenzo in the fight against Babel Group.
• Big Bad: Babel Group (lead by Jang Han-seok/Jang Joon-woo) is the overall "villain" and the source of most problems in the show.
• Big Brother Bully: Joon-woo is physically and emotionally abusive towards his younger stepbrother Han-seo. He makes it very clear that he sees Han-seo as his puppet, and he will kill him if he steps out of line.
• Bizarre Alien Senses: The many-pixeled, monochrome vision of a hornet is used in the episode 6 scene where the heroes release hornets in a courtroom as part of their Courtroom Antics.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: Jang Han-seok/ Jang Joon-woo and Vincenzo. The former is an irredeemable psychopath who would murder anyone, including his own family and friends. The latter is an anti-hero who has good deeds, but is only willing to achieve them through bad ways. He is a ruthless Mafia consigliere who murders and tortures a lot of people, after all.
• Calling Out for Not Calling: Cha-young to Vincenzo in episode 10, as the former was unaware that the latter was in the middle of a gunfight.
  Cha-young: I was scared to death. Why didn't you answer your phone? That's what technology is for.
• The Cameo: Chansung and Nichkhun make an appearance in episode 12 as characters in an action K-drama Joon-woo (portrayed by Taecyeon) is watching. All three are members of 2PM.
• Cassandra Truth: In episode 2, Director An, the NIS agent receives intel from the Italian intelligence service that Vincenzo had just arrived in Korea. He correctly guesses that 1. Vincenzo fled to Korea from Italy to avoid being killed 2. That he had secretly stashed a fortune in Korea. He request his superior to allow him to go on a mission to investigate Vincenzo but the superior rubbishes his claims and dismisses him.
  • In episode 6, Vincenzo tells Cha-Young about the gold under the apartment building, but she assumes he's just messing with her.
• Cast Herd: Starting from episode 5, after Yoo-chan dies and Joon-woo's identity as the real Chairman of Babel Group is revealed to the audience, the cast is loosely split into several groups.
  • Jipuragi Law Firm - Vincenzo, Cha-young and Mr. Nam
  • The Geumga Plaza residents (including Director An). Three of the Ant Group gangsters (Park Seok-do, Jeon Soo-nam, and Ms. Yang) join them by episode 9 after barely surviving getting trapped in a freezer.
  • Babel Group / Wusang Law Firm - Myung-hee, Attorney Han, Han-seo, Joon-woo
  • The Ant Group gangsters
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: The show is a dark comedy and alternates between extremely dark, violent moments and flat out comedy.
• Chalk Outline: In episode 10 the cops used tape to mark where Jong-moon the crooked doctor's body was found. A dramatic pool of blood is still visible next to the tape.
• Chekhov's Gun: The watch Han-seok gave his brother has a tracker embedded on it, just as Han-seo suspected. So he places trackers on all of Han-seok's watches, which proved really useful in the finale.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Joon-woo, introduced in the first episode as Cha-young's goofy intern, riding up on a scooter. He seems like comic relief. He turns out to be the Big Bad.
  • Inzaghi, the pigeon who frequents around Vincenzo's bedroom window, calls on a flock of birds to disorient the mobsters who held him at gunpoint.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Vincenzo says he doesn't smoke and only carries the fancy gold lighter around for the Audible Sharpness zing it makes when he flips it open and closed. But a prison visit to see his mom in episode 6 has him lighting up afterwards, as he has a flashback to when he was adopted by an Italian couple.
• *Click* Hello: A very dramatic one at the end of episode 12. Mr. Cho has been Vincenzo's faithful sidekick and assistant throughout the series—until he sticks a gun up against Vincenzo's head after the two of them finally enter the gold vault. Turns out he's a Deep Cover Agent.
• Cool Car: Part of Vincenzo's and Cha-young's Big Entrance at the courthouse towards the end of episode 5. They arrived in a Baby Blue Lamborghini Aventador. Doubles as a Take That! to Myung-hee, who just a moment ago told the press that the opposing party (Vincenzo and co) would use their position as the downtrodden underdogs to paint the rich Babel Group as evil. Nobody expected Vincenzo and Cha-young to show up in a car that screams money!
  Vincenzo: You need a sleek ride when you're headed to the battlefield.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: It turns out that the monks at Nanyak Temple discovered the vault and were waiting for the owner to reveal himself so they could return the vault contents to him. A lot of Vincenzo's subterfuge and near-misses with the vault could have been avoided if he'd just openly proclaimed himself the owner and claimed the vault.
• The Consigliere:
  • Vincenzo's actual job for the Cassano crime family back in Italy. The silly people at Geumga Plaza, who are very happy to have a mobster on their side, mistake the Italian word "consigliere" for the Korean for "corn salad". So when Vincenzo comes back, they greet him with cheers of "Corn salad! Corn salad!"
  • Myung-hee becomes Joon-woo's adviser in evil, because she's both a lot more competent and a lot more willing to kill than either Chairman Jang or Attorney Han. Joon-woo acknowledges this when he actually calls her "consigliere".
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Vincenzo arranges spectacularly horrifying deaths for both Myung-hee and Han-seok in the last episode. Myung-hee has her feet mauled, gets doused with gasoline, and then set on fire with a casual toss of his lighter, with the death set to dance music. Joon-woo is left strapped in a bizarre torture rig, with drills that drill 5 mm every five minutes. In his last scene Han-seok is still alive, but just barely, as the drills work their way into his flesh.
• Crusading Lawyer: Yoo-chan in the beginning, who has specifically dedicated himself to the takedown of Babel Group but also has other sympathetic clients like Vincenzo's mom, railroaded onto death row. Cha-young, who at the beginning of the series is an Amoral Attorney who regards her father as naive, has become a crusading lawyer herself by the end, having picked up her father's mantle.
• Cutting the Knot: The gold vault is booby trapped to bring down the entire building if anyone unauthorized tries to access it. Rather than trying to crack the system, Vincenzo plans to demolish the building first and then dig the gold out of the rubble.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Episode 9 reveals that Vincenzo's mother put him up for adoption a quarter-century ago because she had lung cancer and thought she was going to die. She got better.
• Decoy Leader: It becomes obvious to Vincenzo and Myung-hee early on that Jang Han-seo may be the chairman of Babel Group to the public, but he isn't smart enough to be the one calling all the shots. The real 'king' of Babel Group is his step brother Jang Han-seok / Jang Joon-woo. The decoy part is invoked by Joon-woo, as he tells Myung-hee in episode 10 that him staying in the shadows helps him avoid jail time if things go wrong.
• Deep Cover Agent:
  • Director An is one, working for the NIS to spy on Vincenzo. He still goes by his real name and has a flamboyant manner of stalking and eavesdropping on others, thus making him an Overt Operative. It's likely that no one ever figured out his identity as an NIS spy due to his Cloud Cuckoolander demeanor and nature.
  • Vincenzo's partner in crime Cho Young-woon is revealed to be one for the NIS too in episode 13.
• Deliberate Injury Gambit:
• Dirty Cop: The two cops in episode 10 who cover up Babel's murder of the victims' families, in return for a massive bribe.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The Guillotine File's entry on Jang Han-seok/Jang Joon-woo reveals that he killed a classmate for stealing his ball during gym class.
• Dramatic Thunder: Some over-the-top usage of this in episode 3 when Myung-hee gives the order to kill both Yoo-chan and the researcher witness.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Hong Yoo-chan dies at the end of episode 3 after a truck driven by a hitman hired by Myung-hee suddenly crashes into the diner where he and Vincenzo were having drinks. Until this point, he had been a major character, trying to get justice for the victims of Babel Group's crimes as well as spending a lot of time with Vincenzo, having developed a friendship with him. His death motivates Vincenzo and his daughter to start working seriously to take down Babel Group and Wusang.
• Dutch Angle: A pretty radical one in the first scene of the first episode, when the image is tilted a full 90 degrees to the left, for the shot in which Vincenzo leaves his hotel for a meeting with Fabio, a rival Mafia boss.
• Empathy Doll Shot: Vincenzo has recurring nightmares of the time in Italy when he shot a Mafia rival in a car, only to realize that a little girl holding a teddy bear was seated next to the man.
• Enemy Civil War: Joon-woo's psychotic behavior eventually causes a rift between the Babel Group / Wusang Law Firm quartet of Myung-hee, Attorney Han, Joon-woo and Han-seo. Attorney Han has been aligning himself with Han-seo, whereas Myung-hee choose to stick with Joon-woo as she found common ground with him. It's even acknowledged by Vincenzo upon hearing news of Joon-woo getting shot in episode 12.
  Vincenzo: If this is true...I guess a war broke out between the two of them.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Vincenzo and the Cassano mafia family have one rule when murdering people: do not kill women and children.
  • In the series finale, Vincenzo breaks this rule when he kills Choi Myung-hee, but he justifies it saying, "To me, you're not a woman. You're just a monster driven by desires."
• Evil, Inc.: Babel Group. They're the kind of company that will deliberately market opiates to sick people for the express purpose of creating addicts, then murder 15 scientists and a lawyer to cover it up.
• Eviler than Thou: Choi Myung-hee might be an Amoral Attorney who isn't above using underhanded tactics including ordering the murder of Hong Yoo-chan to win cases, but she is unnerved when Jang Joon-woo reveals his Ax-Crazy, Psychopathic Manchild nature.
• Face–Heel Turn: In episode 15 Prosecutor Jang, who seemed honorable and dedicated and hungry to take down Babel, flips out of nowhere and lets Joon-woo off the hook. It turns out that what he really wanted was a promotion for prosecutor general, and went to Joon-woo for his bribe once he had enough evidence.
• Failure Gambit: That attempt to create a gas explosion in Geumga Plaza in episode 16? Yes, Han-seo sabotaged his own plan by calling the firefighters just before the timer ran out. It also ended up convincing Vincenzo that he's fully committed to taking out his brother.
• Fake Defector: Director Tae Jong-gu of the NIS pretends to get in bed with Han-seok, only to prove instrumental in presenting damning evidence on Babel and its cronies by surreptitiously recording one of their parties.
• Fingore: In episode 16, Vincenzo makes the mook who killed his mother reveal who gave the order, by breaking the mook's fingertips one at a time until the mook cracks.
• Flat Character: Jang Joon-woo, aka Jang Han-seok. Ax-Crazy, violent sociopath, who also happens to be good at assuming the mask of a silly, happy-go-lucky intern. Beyond revealing that Cha-young's goofball assistant is both the Big Bad and violently insane, the show really never fleshes out his character or give him any depth.
• Flipping the Table: In episode 11, Joon-woo dramatically flips over a dining table (and his lunch with it) when Han-seo suggests he let him run Babel Pharmaceuticals on his own, showing that Han-seo trying to cut his puppet strings is a big Berserk Button for him.
• Foil: Vincenzo and Joon-woo. The former is not proud of his violent past and tries to leave it behind, while the latter enjoys violence and becomes more unhinged as time goes by.
• Food Slap: Yeo-won throws a drink of water in her dirtbag husband Jong-moon's face in episode 7 as she tells him she's divorcing him. Then she goes from Food Slap to regular old slap and a fight breaks out in the middle of court.
• Foot Popping: Cha-young in episode 14 when she and Vincenzo share The Big Damn Kiss. They have to do it as one of their wacky undercover missions, but they still really get into the moment.
• Foreign-Language Tirade:
  • Vincenzo, who was raised in Italy, swears and curses in Italian whenever he gets mad.
  • Joon-woo, who was from New York, has a habit of speaking in English when he gets flustered or loses his temper.
• The Glomp: Team Leader Ahn's Ambiguously Gay affection for Vincenzo reaches its peak in episode 11. Ahn pulls strings to get Vincenzo released from custody, offers his help in Vincenzo's campaign against Babel, and in return asks for...a hug. Vincenzo offers a handshake but instead Ahn leaps into his arms, his legs wrapped around Vincenzo's waist while a stunned Vincenzo is left grabbing onto Ahn's butt.
• Gratuitous English: Joon-woo sometimes bursts into English when he's agitated.
• Gratuitous Italian: From Vincenzo Cassano, of course.
• Hidden Depths: Over time, the wacky residents of Geumga Plaza reveals skills that prove useful in Vincenzo's fight against Babel Group. This is lampshaded by Cha-young in episode 14.
  Cha-young: How come everyone here is so talented?
  • Mr. Nam, the paralegal who works at the Jipuragi law firm was once a stage make up artist and also has a talent for making saccharine PowerPoint slides.
  • Lee Chul-wook boasts about his fighting skills regularly, but chickens out when confronted by the neighborhood gangsters, until episode 9, where his cauliflower ear is revealed, signifying he is a professional wrestler. He proceeds to beat the daylights out of 2 thugs that had broken into Vincenzo's apartment until he gets pepper sprayed.
    • His wife, Jang Yeon-jin too. She lifted one of the thugs like a sack of potatoes before hurling him to the ground! She too would have beaten them up to a pulp had she not been pepper sprayed.
  • Mr. Tak, the tailor manages to take down a bunch of thugs all by himself with just a pair of scissors in episode 10, by stabbing all of them, John Wick-style, making him a Cool Old Guy.
  • Mi-ri the piano teacher is also a hacker who helped design the security system used to seal the vault underneath Geumga Plaza, as well as the one who stole the Guillotine file. She was aware of the gold underneath Geumga Plaza all the while.
  • There's also Cho Young-woon, Vincenzo's faithful sidekick who's helping him get the gold out of the vault— until they finally get in the vault and Young-woon pulls a gun on him, that is. It turns out that he's a rogue secret agent, and he wants the "Guillotine" file of incriminating info hidden in the vault.
  • Park Seok-do, leader of the Ant Group, used to be an ER nurse.
• Hiding Behind the Language Barrier:
  • In episode 3 Vincenzo calls Cha-young "Stupid. Idiot." in Italian. This pisses Cha-young off and pisses her off even more when he ignores her demand to "translate!"
  Cha-young: I bet he was cursing at me, it's so annoying.
  • In episode 7 Vincenzo gets Prosecutor Hwang on his side by promising to get his son, a soccer player, scored by a big-time Italian soccer coach. The coach shows up at practice, and Vincenzo and the coach talk in Italian about how the boy is the worst player on the team.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Na Deok-Jin becomes a nightclub singer after the Ant Group has been replaced by Babel, but Cha-young bluntly tells him in his face that she isn't impressed by his musical skills.
• Hunting "Accident": After being constantly bullied by Joon-woo, and with persuasion from Attorney Han, Jang Han-seo finally works up the nerve to shoot Joon-woo In the Back during a hunting trip in episode 12. Given the persons involved and the circumstances, no one in the main cast believes that it was an accident when the news breaks out.
• Important Haircut: When Joon-woo decides to come out of the shadows and proclaim himself openly as chairman of Babel Group, he ditches the shaggy goofball hair that he had been sporting, instead getting it cut and smoothed back into more stylish evil hair.
• Incredibly Obvious Bug: Myung-hee pays a visit to the Jipuragi Law Firm in episode 5 with a potted stuckyi plant as a housewarming gift. Given who Myung-hee is, one would have guessed the plant was a bug. Sure enough, it is later revealed that a bright red blinking listening device is in the pot. However, in episode 6, it's revealed that Vincenzo had already gotten rid of it early on, moving the plant (and the bug) to Larry's dance studio, causing Myung-hee and Attorney Han to hear only footsteps and Larry's zombie rehearsals. Vincenzo even lampshades this.
  Cha-young: How did you know the plant was tapped?
  Vincenzo: Stuckyis grow well even when they're not watered for a month. It's the perfect spot for electrical devices such as wiretaps. In the past intelligence services often used them for wiretapping.
  Cha-young: My gosh. Even her dirty tricks are old-fashioned.
• Instant Web Hit: How Vincenzo delayed an illegal demolition at Geumga Plaza from taking place in episode 2. He uploaded a photo of himself on his Outstargram account, inviting the public to a 'Traditional Sicilian Wine Party for Insiders' which would be held at Geumga Plaza. The post quickly goes viral across Korea and the rest of the world. By nightfall, the venue is packed with people, effectively preventing the Ant Group gangsters from carrying out the demolition.
• Internal Reveal: Joon-woo reveals his identity as the real Chairman of Babel Group to Myung-hee and Attorney Han in episode 6 via a Star Wars themed PowerPoint presentation.
• The Key Is Behind the Lock: In episode 13, as Vincenzo and Young-woon hurriedly cover their tracks after exiting the gold vault, Vincenzo chucks Young-woon's coat into the vault. Afterwards Young-woon has to deliver the bad news that the biometric data they need to access the vault was in a pocket of the coat.
• Kill It with Fire: How Vincenzo deals with his enemies, by dousing places valuable to them with gasoline and setting it on fire with his Reusable Lighter Toss.
  • In episode 1, he sets fire to a vineyard owned by a rival boss who killed a friend of Fabio Cassano.
  • In episode 4, he sets fire to warehouses owned by Babel Group with the help of Cha-young, Mr. Nam and the victims of Babel Chemicals' crimes.
  • In the finale, he sets Choi Myung-Hee on fire.
• Kubrick Stare:
  • Episode 11 ends with a dramatic confrontation where Vincenzo confronts Joon-woo with a gun, orders him to kneel, and says that he knows that he is the real chairman of Babel. Joon-woo's kneeling, so his gaze up at Vincenzo turns into a disturbing Kubrick Stare as he drops the mask of fear and asks how Vincenzo figured it out.
  • Episode 13 ends with a much more intense, scarier one, after Cha-young and Vincenzo rip off the climax of Carrie and a blood-drenched Han-seok is left staring up at the two of them in the balcony.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After Prosecutor Jang's Face–Heel Turn in episode 15 (the good guys thought he was with them, but instead he went to Joon-woo and secured a bribe), an astonished Attorney Han says "If this happened in a drama, people would say it was unrealistic."
• Local Hangout: Ti Diamo Il, the Italian restaurant at Geumga Plaza owned by Chef Toto, becomes one for the Geumga Plaza residents.

M-Z

• MacGuffin: Two! There's the billion dollars of gold in the secret vault under Geumga Plaza, which is the only reason Vincenzo ever gets mixed up with Babel Group. Then it turns out that within that same vault, there is hidden the "Guillotine" file, a treasure trove of incriminating secret info about Babel Group and a whole lot of other South Korean VIPs.
• The Mafia: In a K-drama! Vincenzo was the consigliere for his adoptive father in Italy. Rather than fight a power struggle he can't win with his ethnic Italian adoptive brother, Vincenzo flies back to Korea. Several episodes later, the residents of Geumga Plaza are thrilled when they learn they have a real-life mobster to help them against Babel Group.
• Make It Look Like an Accident:
  • Babel Group and Wusang's modus operandi when it comes to getting rid of people who cause trouble for them, along with Never Suicide.
  • Episode 13 reveals that Mr. Cho murdered the owner of the gold in the vault by injecting a drug into him inducing cardiac arrest. All along, Vincenzo (and the viewers) thought he had simply died of a heart attack.
• Match Cut: From Vincenzo raising his espresso cup in episode 7 to toast Yeo-won, to Yeo-won in court holding up a memory stick with extremely damaging info against Babel Pharmaceuticals.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Vincenzo's name is derived from vincerò (Italian for 'I will win'). Uttered word for word by Vincenzo himself at the end of episode 4.
  • Babel Group is a reference to the biblical Tower of Babel. In fact, its chairman thinks of himself as a god and plans to have a skyscraper erected.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Han-seok's habit of threats, violence, physical abuse, and constant insults towards his little brother Han-seo results in Han-seo throwing his lot in with Vincenzo in the later episodes.
• Mundane Solution: In episode 11, Myung-hee suggests a way to get rid of Vincenzo once and for all - report his criminal past as a Mafia consigliere to the authorities, which would lead to him being deported from Korea.
• Mystical 108: Vincenzo and Mr. Cho claim they are doing the 108 ceremonial bows to Buddha in the temple. What they are actually doing is making an excuse for their presence, after narrowly avoiding being caught exiting the gold vault.
• Never Found the Body: In the season finale, the dead bodies of Jang Han-seok/Jang Joon-woo and Choi Myung-hee seem to have never been found, considering that the media only reported how Vincenzo abducted Myung-hee, and not suspicions about the murders. It's all but stated that their remains have been used as fertilizer.
• Never Suicide: Babel Group and Wusang's modus operandi when it comes to getting rid of people who cause trouble for them, along with Make It Look Like an Accident.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Vincenzo's plan is to steal the gold stash belonging to a crooked businessman and former partner of the Cassano's. Granted, said businessman has died, leaving no one else able to enter the vault to take the gold. He is then betrayed in this plan by his own partner, Mr. Cho, who puts a gun to his back when the vault is successfully opened at the end of episode 12, implying that he wants all the gold for himself. Episode 13 reveals this to be a Zig-Zagging Trope, with Mr. Cho revealing his Deep Cover Agent status, stating he has no interest in the gold, only the Guillotine file hidden within one of the gold bars. He tells Vincenzo that he just needs to retrieve the file and he will be on his way, provided Vincenzo lets him leave the vault first. Vincenzo cautiously refuses, as there is the possibility of Mr. Cho shutting the vault door on him, trapping Vincenzo in the vault. Both men eventually exit the vault, but when Vincenzo finds out that the Geumga Plaza residents are coming back to the building after thinking that Vincenzo sent them off on a bus trip to empty out the building and get the gold for himself, Vincenzo and Mr. Cho are forced to quickly work together to seal the vault and cover up their successful attempt at opening the vault. It's also revealed that Mr. Cho murdered the businessman in the first place so that he could access the vault himself!
• Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: In episode 17 Vincenzo destroys the Babel Tower auction by sending in his minion with a prop bomb strapped to his chest. Vincenzo explains to the minion that it's a fake bomb and after the job is done Vincenzo will pay him and discharge him...except that the fake bomb isn't, and it explodes and kills the minion. Said minion was one of the mooks who killed Yoo-chan way back in episode 3, and Vincenzo had promised Cha-young revenge.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: This is Vincenzo's modus operandi when it comes to dealing with his enemies. After Yoo-chan's death, Cha-young and the residents of Geumga Plaza are happy to help out when he does this to Babel Group and Wusang.
• Plot-Triggering Death: Hong Yoo-chan's death at the end of episode 3 provides the motivation for Vincenzo and Cha-young to take down Babel Group and Wusang once and for all.
• Product Placement:
  • The Jipuragi Law Firm trio really like sipping on cups of Maxim coffee. Vincenzo even packs Maxim for a flight to Italy!
  • Kopiko candies also feature quite often in scenes involving the Geumga residents.
• Protagonist Title: Vincenzo.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Joon-woo. He is introduced as Cha-young's silly, goofy intern. He wears sneakers with his suit at the law office, he rides around on a scooter, he has a generally excitable, happy-go-lucky manner, and he has an obvious case of puppy love for Cha-young that she does her best to ignore. However, he is also a deranged psychopath prone to terrifying outbursts of violence. There is a particularly disturbing scene in episode 6 where Joon-woo chooses to reveal his real identity to Attorney Han and Myung-hee. He does this by showing them a cheesy, crude slide show that looks like it was done by an elementary school child, complete with Star Wars-style opening crawl. His giggly, excitable manner in this scene is only briefly interrupted by cold fury when he reveals that his younger brother "Chairman" Jang was the result of his father's affair with a secretary. The manner in which his obviously terrified brother gets up and starts dancing and cheering along with Joon-woo has a strong "It's a Good Life" vibe.
  • A flashback reveals that when Joon-woo had his father murdered, he stood by munching gummy bears and watched while his criminal doctor injected poison into Dad's veins.
• Reflective Eyes: In episode 4, as he watches his warehouse burn to the ground, the flames are reflected in Joon-woo's eyes, symbolizing his status as a villain and his Tranquil Fury.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: After becoming the Mafia boss, Vincenzo changes the Cassano family's goals to getting rid of immoral criminals. Nonetheless, he still remains evil and ruthless.
• Refuge in Audacity: This is Vincenzo's standard tactic when dealing with bad guys more powerful than him. They do not expect his in-your-face tactics and make mistakes that he exploits.
• Reusable Lighter Toss: This is a Signature Move of Vincenzo, with his golden Zippo lighter.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves:
  • Vincenzo throws Prosecutor Jang off a building for defecting to Han-seok's side.
  • When Pyo Hyeok-pil (one of the mooks directly responsible for Hong Yoo-chan's death in episode 3) runs to Myung-hee after the former saw his partner in crime get his guts blown off by a Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon, he also gets dispatched.
  • Jang Han-seo meets his end by getting shot by his own brother for his Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal to Vincenzo's side.
  • Han-seok had his men stab Chief Prosecutor Han to death while conducting an off-record press conference. Han earlier had struck a deal with Vincenzo to spare him in exchange for Myung-hee's early release.
• Rooftop Confrontation: In one episode Vincenzo is about to take Cha-young up to the roof of Geumga for a little romance when he figures out there are bad guys in wait. He subtly sends her downstairs, confronts the bad guys, and after they fight he's eventually overpowered. He appears to be doomed when, in one of the sillier moments of the series, the rooftop pigeons swarm in and distract the goons long enough for Vincenzo to turn the tables and kill them. (Then he has to shoo Cha-young away to give his own minions a chance to clear away the three dead bodies on the roof.)
• Running Gag:
  • Vincenzo suddenly showing up at Ti Diamo Il, the Italian restaurant at Geumga Plaza owned by Chef Toto, ordering something and proceeding to criticize the food he was served. This makes Chef Toto afraid of serving food to Vincenzo, however he is forced to humor Vincenzo as he fears being exposed by Vincenzo as a fraud - he had never learned cooking in Italy as he had claimed to the other residents of Geumga Plaza. However, this does motivate him to become a better chef.
  • A lot of the examples are very dark, but still, it seems that everything Babel Group makes is evil or terrible or both. They market a pain reliever that is basically glorified heroin. They make a chemical for use in display panels that apparently causes leukemia. They build a courthouse, and the courthouse leaks from the ceiling.
  • Vincenzo getting irritated at the cooing, chirping pigeons that perch on his windowsill at Geumga Plaza. Eventually he gives up and starts sleeping on his living room floor to escape the noise.
  • Cha-young getting annoyed when Vincenzo or (before she finds out he's evil) Joon-woo speak to her in Italian or English without translating.
• Russian Roulette: In episode 11, Vincenzo uses this as a means of interrogation on an arms dealer who's been feeding information on his mafia past to Babel Group. It successfully gets the man to crack and reveal who the real chairman of Babel Group is.
• Secret Test: Vincenzo tests whether Chairman Jang is a puppet by switching around quotes by George Soros and Joseph Schumpeter. Unsurprisingly, Chairman Jang doesn't catch it.
• Self-Made Orphan: Jang Joon-woo murders his own father when he was in the hospital.
• Shirtless Scene: An extremely common form of Fanservice in Korean dramas, here seen when Joon-woo comes out of his shower without a shirt. Besides the fanservice angle, the scene, which shows that the seemingly dorky and awkward Joon-woo is actually quite buff and muscular, demonstrates that he is far more dangerous than previously imagined.
• Shout-Out:
  • To the COVID-19 Pandemic interestingly. Vincenzo may be the only K-drama that acknowledges the existence of COVID-19 In-Universe, albeit not explicitly.
    • In episode 3, the gangsters trying to demolish Geumga Plaza are denied entry to a party being held at the area. The reason? They needed to have their temperature taken first!
    • Also in episode 3, Vincenzo had this to say about the pizza prepared by Chef Toto:
    Vincenzo: I guess the basil and cheese are practicing social distancing. They don't mix at all. And are the tomatoes quarantined or something? I can't taste them at all.
    • Episode 7 has a bunch of thugs deciding to abandon their assignment to beat up another bunch of thugs after one of them gets a phone call en route and finds out he had been in contact with an 'infected person'. The bus transporting said thugs presumably heads off to a medical center so the thugs can all get tested.
    • In episode 9, the Ant Group boss has decided to start a 'travel agency' based in Geumga Plaza. One of the residents scoffs at him with the following response:
    Hee-soo: A travel agency? At a time like this? Is it a travel agency that sends people to the afterlife?
  • Episode 1 has Vincenzo's cab driver (who's actually a thief) dropping these lines when the car radio starts broadcasting news about thieves posing as cab drivers to rob people at the airport.
  Driver: Gosh, these assholes. How could they when Bong Joon-ho and BTS worked so hard for our image?
  • In episode 4, when the police accuse Cha-young of breaking and entering into Han-seo's house to leave 50 bloody syringes on a pillow in his bed to frighten him.
    Cha-young: Who do you think I am? Black Widow?
  • Also in episode 4, when Vincenzo tells Cha-young he believes in 'an eye for an eye'.
    Cha-young: Who do you think you are? Hammurabi?
  • In episode 8, Vincenzo takes part in a Honey Trap. He poses as a lawyer named Tae-ho, and his date even yells "Spaceship Victory!" on an amusement park ride.
  • Director An mentions that he loves watching crime dramas like Quiz of God in episode 10.
  • Seo Sang-won, a lawyer who worked at Wusang and one of Cha-young's contacts has the ability to mimic the voices of the characters from Parasite. He demonstrates this ability in episode 11 after Vincenzo mentions that he had watched the movie himself and enjoyed it!
  • Multiple The Lord of the Rings references
    • Mr. Nam's reaction in episode 13 when Vincenzo tells him that are no longer able to open the gold vault.
    Mr. Nam: My precious!
    • Jang Han-seok and Choi Myung-hee call the Guillotine File this as they discuss its nature (or ponder by themselves, Jang Han-seok's case) in Episode 15.
    Jang Han-seok in English: One Ring to rule them all
    (later in Episode 15)
    Choi Myung-Hee: All of the powerful people in Korea will kneel before you
    Jang Han-seok: It really sounds like the one Ring in LOTR.
    Choi Myung-hee: You watched it, so you must know.
  • Also in episode 13, when Attorney Han advises Han-seo to play the role of an idiot, he starts describing the plot of Mr. Queen as an example.
  • The drug that Babel Group killed a test subject with is RDU-90. That was the same drug that got Dr. Richard Kimble into trouble in the film version of The Fugitive.
• Shower Scene: It's basically mandatory in a Korean Drama to have a shower scene with the handsome male lead for Fanservice purposes, but it's also played for a gag in episode 1 of this show, as the water in the dilapidated building comes out of the shower head in irregular spurts, much to Vincenzo's frustration. The background music even stops and goes along with the water!
• Significant Background Event: The truck that crashes into the restaurant in episode 3 can be seen approaching from quite a ways away before it smashes through the glass window.
• Sinister Shiv: How the hitman who killed Cha-young's father meets his end in episode 4.
• Sleeping Dummy: In the first episode a bunch of hit men sent by Vincenzo's brother barge into his hotel room and shoot him up...except it was a Sleeping Dummy in the bed. Vincenzo calmly steps out from the bathroom and kills them all.
• The Sociopath: Han-seok. He used to kill his classmates in school. He likes to beat people to death with hockey sticks. In episode 15, Myung-hee has to explain to him that Vincenzo's family could be a weak spot, because normal people care about their families.
• Spit Take:
  • Vincenzo's reaction in episode 8 when Cha-young tells him that he must pretend to be gay in order to romance Hwang Min-sung, the president of Shinkwang Bank. (Shinkwang is about to extend a big loan to Babel Group and our heroes want to stop it.)
  • Vincenzo has a spectacular one in episode 12 when his sidekick Cho says he's in debt and they need to get the gold now. Vincenzo offers to tide him over while they wait and asks how much Cho needs. When Cho says thirty billion won (close to $30 million), he is doused with the force of Vincenzo's Spit Take.
• The Starscream: By the middle of the series, Han-seo has clearly showed his displeasure towards his brother's mistreatment of him to the point of being willing to enlist Vincenzo's help to take Han-seok down. Vincenzo has repeatedly shot down his offers by saying that he's uninterested in exploiting the Enemy Civil War, and in Han-seo's second attempt, for having proven that he's still The Ditz despite claiming otherwise. The two finally work together by episode 16 though, after Han-seo pulls off a Failure Gambit by foiling his own plan to bomb Geumga Plaza
• Team Power Walk: Multiple times in episode 17 when the whole gang at Geumga get nice black suits to match Vincenzo.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A downplayed (and Played for Laughs) example in episode 14, where Ms. Yang and Mi-ri act passive-aggressive towards each other due to them both harboring an attraction to Vincenzo. Seok-do's efforts to lighten the mood between the two ends up being futile.
• This Is What the Building Will Look Like: Han-seok has a model of Babel Tower, the building he wants to construct in the area where Geumga Plaza is located. Given what an Ax-Crazy sociopath he is and how insanely evil Babel is, the tower even in model form comes off as an Evil Tower of Ominousness.
• Time Bomb:
  • In episode 3, a man sneaks into the basement of a villa where researchers working for Babel are currently residing, cuts a gas line and leaves a smartwatch as a timer behind. The smell of gas wakes several of the men upstairs. They reach the basement with only seconds left on the timer – the whole building blows up and all the men are killed. The news reports it as a gas explosion accident, as Babel Group intended.
  • The same trick is later attempted on Geumga Plaza, but is foiled in the nick of time.
  • Subverted in episode 10, where a toy car chasing Han-seo just carried a flag with a "C" on it after the time ran out.
• Tranquil Fury: The episode 16-17 sequence where Vincenzo beats up the mook who killed his mom. Then tortures the mook. Then tows the mook along to Joon-woo's house, where he beats the hell out of a half-dozen guards. Then bursts into Joon-woo's house and kills the mook right in front of the Babel gang. Then promises that he will kill them all, before deliberately clipping Joon-woo's ear with a bullet. Throughout, he maintains a stone face and neve raises his voice.
• Unconventional Courtroom Tactics: In episode 6 Cha-young, arguing a suit against Babel Group in court, pretends to collapse as a delaying tactic. When that doesn't work she and Vincenzo go to Plan B: cut power to the courtroom. When that doesn't work (the stenographer gets a laptop), they go to Plan C: release giant hornets on the courtroom and cause a panic. They even go so far as to spill honey water on the chief judge in advance to get a bee to sting him. That works.
• The Unfettered: Vincenzo is a Mafia consigliere and a murderer to begin with, so, when it becomes clear that the deeply corrupt Korean state will not be able to do anything about Babel Group, he starts murdering people. Lampshaded by Cha-young in episode 19 when she says that only someone who is unfettered like Vincenzo can take Babel down.
• Two Guys and a Girl: The Jipuragi law firm becomes this with Vincenzo, Cha-young and Mr. Nam.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: If Vincenzo talks about a plan before executing it, the plan will not work the way he intended. For example, his initial plan to retrieve the gold buried underneath Geumga Plaza. The plan succeeds if he didn't explain it beforehand. For example, organizing a party to delay an illegal demolition in episode 2, setting fire to the Babel warehouses in episode 4 and the courtroom madness in episode 6.
• Wham Episode:
  • Episode 4. Jang Joon-woo is revealed to be the real Chairman of Babel Group. He had been putting up an act as a happy-go-lucky, ditzy intern all the while.
  • Episode 12 is a big one. Joon-woo decides to reveal himself to the world and take over as the real chairman of Babel Group. Vincenzo and Mr. Cho finally manage to open the vault underneath Geumga Plaza, revealing all its contents.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: One year later:
  • The Geumga Plaza tenants have become a community activist group under the name Cassano Geumga Family, opposing corrupt politicians.
  • Nanyak Temple has now become famous as a wedding proposal temple.
  • Hong Cha-young continues running Jipuragi Law Firm, fighting for the downtrodden, having put Chairwoman Seo in jail and won the appeal for Vincenzo's mother.
  • Cho Yeong-un comes back from the cold to the NIS, reporting to newly-promoted Director An, as they continue to use the Guillotine File to purge the corrupt in Korea's government.
  • Vincenzo has bought an island and has taken control of the Cassano Family after Paolo's abdication, and is now the Don.
• Woman Scorned: Vincenzo gets the ex-wife of a Babel-associated doctor to testify by promising her to take over her divorce case and financially destroy the ex-husband.
• Worthy Opponent: Han-seok, who like many sociopaths is prone to boredom, clearly enjoys having Vincenzo as an opponent. He calls Vincenzo his "sparring partner" and gets excited to the point of giddiness when he sees crime scene photos of Vincenzo's murders in Italy.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The two men responsible for Yoo-chan's death meet their end this way. Hwang-gyu gets his guts scattered across a function hall by a not-so-fake bomb, while the Hyeok-pil gets promptly dispatched by Myung-hee after naively believing that she will save him from what Vincenzo did to his partner.
• You Killed My Father:
  • Cha-young's dad is killed by a truck driven by a hitman sent by Choi Myung-hee. This spurs her to quit Wusang and take over her dad's law firm Jipuragi to take down Babel Group and Wusang.
  • When Vincenzo's mom is killed in episode 16, he undertakes a Tranquil Fury-filled rampage, barrelling through entire groups of bodyguards on the way to Han-seok and company's hideout without either breaking a sweat or outwardly expressing the slightest bit of emotion.

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